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HireFriday helps job seekers at all phases of their career transition. We lend a hand, and encourage a heart by providing visibility, networking, support, and access to resources. We offer advice, based on sound career development, and recruiting principles.

Many new college graduates will be entering the job market over the next year. The demographics of the college-age job seeker have changed over the last 5 years and so have the tools available to those seeking internships or full-time roles. For this week’s #HFchat, led by college recruiting expert Mark L. Clark (@marcusclarkus), we’ll discuss how things have changed and how the college job search differs from a traditional one. We also recognize that in today’s workforce, internships are not just for college-age job seekers. Many people outside the usual college age are accepting internships as a way of gaining new work experiences, learning more about a company’s culture and to gain an “in” to potential full-time employment.

How important is it to employers that candidates have an internship?

Should college job seekers be using social media like, LinkedIn, in the job search?

Is there still the need to attend career fairs with so much being online?

How important are the major job boards (Monster, Career Builder) to college job seekers?

Are college career centers still relevant in this day and age?

Are there different “rules” for non-traditional (those over age 30) college job seekers?

Mark L. Clark

Mark joined Lowes Companies, Inc. in November of 2005 as Manager of Corporate Recruiting. In his current role he is part of the college recruiting and university relations team that supports Lowe’s corporate, stores and distribution centers nationwide. He also manages Lowe’s Summer Intern Program and Lowe’s Scholarship Program. Previously, Mark managed the College Recruiting and University Relations Program at American Management Systems (AMS) now CGI-AMS, a business and IT consulting firm in Fairfax, VA. Prior to AMS, Mark was Recruiting Program Manager for AT&T Solutions in Washington, DC and a member of the Corporate University Relations Staff in Chicago and Naperville, IL. He started his professional career with Indiana Bell in Indianapolis, IN.

Throughout his career, Mark has recruited at over 65 colleges and universities nationwide, participated in over 140 career fairs, moderated over 82 career related workshops and conducted almost 500 on-campus interviews. He is currently a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the National Association of Colleges and Employers and the NC Association of Colleges and Employers. Previously he served on the Virginia Association of College and Employers (VACE) Board from 2003-2005.

He received a B.A. degree in business marketing and political science from Ball State University in Muncie, IN and has done graduate coursework in business at Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, IL. He lives with his wife and daughter in Mooresville, North Carolina. He has a son who is a sophomore at North Carolina State University studying Accounting and another son that graduated from Clemson University.